Masterfile Drops First-Refusal

Until recently Masterfile had been one of the last major agencies to insist that everyphotographer they represented be exclusive with them. "Artist exclusivity was one ofMasterfile's cornerstone principles for 25 years and it served us well, but it was an ideawhose time has gone," said Steve Pigeon, President of Masterfile.

Earlier this year they moved to an image-exclusive contract with all their artists, but theystill insisted on the right-of-first-refusal. Now they have eliminated the first-refusalrequirement as well.

It is now possible for top producing photographers to be represented by Getty, Corbis,Masterfile and maybe other agencies. They can choose to show any particular shoot to any one ofthese agencies. If the first agency refuses to represent the images they are free to take themto any of the other agencies. Each agency wants image-exclusive rights to the images theyaccept, but that is all.

One of stock photographer's biggest complaints in the last year or so has been that not enoughof their images are being accepted for marketing. When these photographers were represented bya single agency this presented a major problem. The move by Masterfile opens up a veryimportant additional outlet for many photographers.

Steve Pigeon says, "the right of first refusal provision made it impossible for someestablished artists to join Masterfile without breaching other agreements, and we won't subvertanyone's contract under any circumstances."

He continued, "Masterfile's image collection has grown dramatically in recent years and we'readding a lot of new images every month, but it's not enough. Clients are demanding more from usat a time when many artists around the world have scaled-back their production of stock images.No matter how valid the rationale for artists who want to cut costs, I can assure you that ourclients are not interested. They'll simply go to the company that has the pictures.

"Masterfile represents some very productive stock photographers but we need more. It's nosurprise that the best stock photographers outside of Masterfile already have agencyaffiliations which they can't or don't want to terminate. Following the nasty consolidationstories of the past few years, photographers are understandably nervous about making anexclusive commitment to one company... and I can't blame them.

"Masterfile has been approached by some incredibly talented and productive photographers whowould love to work with Masterfile - and could do so quite openly under their existing agencycontracts - but our contract prevented that."

Thus, Pigeon, with ratification from all the company's managers, decided to change theMasterfile contracts for all artists and removed the right of first refusal. "With one strokeof the pen we have eliminated any barrier to bringing on more of the finest talent in theworld," he said.

"We are still very concerned about exclusivity and rights control. We absolutely insist thatthe images represented by Masterfile - and all similars - be exclusive to Masterfile so we cancontinue to give real meaning to the term 'Rights Protected'," Pigeon continued.

"Although we expect to add a good number of photographers in the coming months, we remaincommitted to giving each of our contributing artists the personal attention they deserve - andthat Masterfile is known for. And, of course, we want to build revenues even faster than thenumber of photographers to make sure that all of our contributors benefit from our expansion."

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.

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